Confused about new ringing... need advice please!

[FuzzyFrey]

Hello everyone. I recently had a setback that I'm still trying to habituate from but it's taking it's time. I've had annoying reactive T in my head for five years, and soft tonal T in my right ear for longer. About a week ago I became aware of a new ringing in my left ear, just my left (so it's unilateral). For the vast majority of the time, it is so quiet that I can only hear it if I plug my ears or if I'm in a very quiet environment like my bedroom. But I became aware of it when one night last week it was quite audible, to the same extent as the tonal ringing in my right ear. Six days later, it hasn't been that loud, though I think there were a couple of moments before that three weeks or so ago where I think I had a similar experience but didn't focus on it.

I don't think the ringing in my left ear is related to what was already in my right. They're both soft tonal sounds (the right is usually louder) but the right is in the key of A and the newly developed left one is more of a G or F# (musicians will understand where I'm coming from!).

There's a few things I should probably mention;
* I have perfect hearing range in my right ear, but I have ultra high frequency hearing loss in my left. This has been the case for at least five years and over that time when I had another hearing test, it was about the same if not better!
* I do listen to a lot of music on my MP3 player, but the volume limit is capped below what would be perceived as dangerous levels. Noise does not aggravate this new tinnitus that has developed, so I am not sure if this has anything to do with it, though I still worry.
* My left ear has issues with crackling upon some very loud volumes or high frequencies (been like that for five years also). Not as bad as it was when it started but still present to a lesser extent.
* I have TMD in my left jaw which makes this side of my jaw click and pop, and that's been the case since January. Opening my mouth wide has no effect or changes on the tinnitus that's newly developed. It does however make the reactive T in my head louder. The dentist gave me a mouth guard to wear at night some months back, but two months of wearing this had no positive effect at all so I stopped wearing it. I am not sure if this could be related to the new T in my left ear.
* There has been impacted earwax that was in my left ear that my GP discovered in February this year that was flushed out back in June, but it didn't have any effect on my hearing at all, before and after.

I know it's only been a week and it's been very quiet thus far, but because it's new and came out of nowhere I've been a bit scared and on edge about it. I don't know what caused the ringing, and I know I tend to jump to conclusions and overreact. I have thought about consulting a GP or ENT again about this at some point (NHS), but I worry that at best they won't be able to find or do anything, and at worst I'll just get fobbed off.

Any advice or feedback on this would be very welcome

 

[Ilija]

Hello everyone. I recently had a setback that I'm still trying to habituate from but it's taking it's time. I've had annoying reactive T in my head for five years, and soft tonal T in my right ear for longer. About a week ago I became aware of a new ringing in my left ear, just my left (so it's unilateral). For the vast majority of the time, it is so quiet that I can only hear it if I plug my ears or if I'm in a very quiet environment like my bedroom. But I became aware of it when one night last week it was quite audible, to the same extent as the tonal ringing in my right ear. Six days later, it hasn't been that loud, though I think there were a couple of moments before that three weeks or so ago where I think I had a similar experience but didn't focus on it.

I don't think the ringing in my left ear is related to what was already in my right. They're both soft tonal sounds (the right is usually louder) but the right is in the key of A and the newly developed left one is more of a G or F# (musicians will understand where I'm coming from!).

There's a few things I should probably mention;
* I have perfect hearing range in my right ear, but I have ultra high frequency hearing loss in my left. This has been the case for at least five years and over that time when I had another hearing test, it was about the same if not better!
* I do listen to a lot of music on my MP3 player, but the volume limit is capped below what would be perceived as dangerous levels. Noise does not aggravate this new tinnitus that has developed, so I am not sure if this has anything to do with it, though I still worry.
* My left ear has issues with crackling upon some very loud volumes or high frequencies (been like that for five years also). Not as bad as it was when it started but still present to a lesser extent.
* I have TMD in my left jaw which makes this side of my jaw click and pop, and that's been the case since January. Opening my mouth wide has no effect or changes on the tinnitus that's newly developed. It does however make the reactive T in my head louder. The dentist gave me a mouth guard to wear at night some months back, but two months of wearing this had no positive effect at all so I stopped wearing it. I am not sure if this could be related to the new T in my left ear.
* There has been impacted earwax that was in my left ear that my GP discovered in February this year that was flushed out back in June, but it didn't have any effect on my hearing at all, before and after.

I know it's only been a week and it's been very quiet thus far, but because it's new and came out of nowhere I've been a bit scared and on edge about it. I don't know what caused the ringing, and I know I tend to jump to conclusions and overreact. I have thought about consulting a GP or ENT again about this at some point (NHS), but I worry that at best they won't be able to find or do anything, and at worst I'll just get fobbed off.

Any advice or feedback on this would be very welcome

Go to the audiologist and have your ears checked, but I wouldn't be scared, I get that from time to time, my ears start ringing out of the blue and it lasts for a couple of days to a week or two.
It's just a random spike that will probably go away.
When I put my head on a pillow I had air sounds, now I have a faint ringing sound that's due to a cold+gig I went to while I wore earplugs the vibrations still got to me slightly.
Nothing scary it'll pass.

 

[Ilija]

I also get a random deafness feeling following a violent ring but that's just for a sec and I had those way before Tinnitus.

 

[FuzzyFrey]

Thanks for your response I do fancy seeing audiology again anyway in the same way I'd go get a dental checkup.

 

[Ilija]

Get your neck checked as-well even if it doesn't hurt.
Mine hurts like a bitch and I have to crack it 5-6 times a day so I'm going to go see a chiropractor and get it sorted out.
Also check your magnesium,zinc,b 12- these are the vitamins,minerals that affect the nerves in the brain, having them low isn't a good idea Tinnitus or no.

 

[FuzzyFrey]

Thanks for the advice Ilija. Something interesting happened last night. When I went to bed the rinigng in my left ear was present, but then it quietened down... and then the ringing left the left ear disappeared and moved to the right! When I woke up it was in my left ear again, but still quiet.

Whatever caused this T, I think that there's good reason to believe it wasn't noise induced, though I'm just thinking out loud here. I'm infamous for my lousy posture, though it's never given me T before. Perhaps I should book an appointment with an ENT when I'm next able to...